Wassail Wine

A fruity, spicy wine for Christmas or whatever you do for the Winter Solstice. Comes out like a rich Martini Rosso type with extra spices and orange flavours. Just right for social drinking with shortbread or mince pies.

This made 20% alcohol in a month - so its a bit of an animal! Make it in spring or just after Christmas and it should be great for the next winter.

Ingredients

• 3lb mixed dried fruit - including citrus peel, cherries, currants, glacé pineapple, sultanas and raisins
• made up muslin bag of mixed spices - cinnamon sticks crumbled, whole allspice lightly crushed, mace, shavings of nutmeg and 2 cloves
• 2 large oranges chopped
• grated zest of two mandarins or tangerines
• 6 pints (3 litres) of boiling water
• Pectolase
• citric acid
• all purpose wine yeast
• yeast nutrient
• tin of red grape concentrate (245 gram or 8.64 oz)
• 2½ lbs. Sugar

Method

• Bring water to a boil and add spice bag and simmer for a few minutes.
• Add chopped oranges, tangerine zest and mixed fruit and simmer for 10 mins.
• Allow to cool and transfer to fermenting bin.
• Add Pectolase and citric acid and leave overnight.
• Remove orange bits and discard - squeezing them first.
• Then squeeze the mixed fruit.
• Dissolve the sugar in hot water and add to bin when cooled.
• Activate yeast and add to bin with yeast nutrient and grape concentrate.
• Stir well, cover and leave for 5 days, stirring and squeezing the fruit daily.
• Strain off through a muslin and/or sieve into demijohn, and fit fermentation lock.
• Allow finishing process as usual.

Note - This was a really messy one to sieve so you might like to have the mixed fruit in a jelly straining bag at the bin fermenting stage - so that its easier.

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